Clifford Chance hires Ward

Reporting to global head of PR Anne Groves, Ward fills the gap left by the departure in August of head of PR Jeff Wagland, whose role was subsequently downgraded (PRWeek, 6 August).

Ward, who left BLP at the beginning of November and starts with Clifford Chance on 22 November, will work with Groves on promoting Clifford Chance’s legal practices to the wider business press as well as the legal press.

‘We get an enormous amount of media coverage,’ Groves told PRWeek. ‘But perhaps it could be a little more structured in terms of the different areas in which we work.’

Both Ward and Groves will be working with Clifford Chance’s retained agency Edelman. Wagland has been working as a freelance comms adviser, most recently for Scottish law firm McGrigors.

BLP marketing director Gillian Khan said the firm was looking for a replacement for Ward, who had worked for the firm for four years, and said she would be ‘building the team slightly differently’.